I love the fact that US conservatives are only now "discovering" that Sweden is actually a capitalist country. They must have missed IKEA, Volvo, Saab, H&M, Spotify, Ericsson, Electrolux...

Conservatives now argue that capitalism made Sweden a good place to live. It's actually regulation, unionization & use of tax money for egalitarian policies that made Sweden a good place to live. Those things would never happen if the "free market" was left to its own devices.

Let's bust the myth that there's responsible "Swedish Capitalism." There's just Capitalism, and how it's regulated. When IKEA didn't like the taxes in Sweden, did it stay out of egalitarian solidarity? Nope. It left and established itself as a Dutch charity for tax purposes.

This is what drives the US political right nuts about Sweden: that you can be a successful market economy AND have some semblance of progressive politics. The US right love to push the idea that the two are incompatible, but Sweden is a constant reminder of why that is a lie.

Sweden also a reminder that how you use taxes is a choice: you can have subsidized daycare, paid parental leave, universal healthcare...or you can spend hundreds of billions on militarization. Never say "it can't be done because the US is so big." That's nonsense. It's a choice.

Swedish locality of Staffanstorp - run by Moderate/Sweden Democrat coalition - decides that students in schools who do not eat pork won't be provided with a meat alternative as vegetarian is offered. This seen a sending message that Muslims not welcome, which local govt denies.

Moderate-SD authority in Staffanstorp now arguing that this is about "economics," but in their platform they clearly state that "cultural characteristics" (such as halal meat) should not be accommodated by local government. So, it's about laying down cultural markers.

There are similar cases in Europe where pork became a symbol of national identity. As I wrote in the @WashingtonPost last year, it's never really about the food (if pork were removed from school menus, and no-one was told, would parents even notice?). It's manufactured outrage.

1) American Patriot newspaper (1852) echos current smears of Muslims/Latinos: "Disgorging themselves upon us, at the rate of Hundreds of Thousands Every Year! They aim at nothing short of conquest and supremacy over us." Who were they writing about? Catholic immigrants. History.

2) Striking similarity between how American Patriot newspaper wanted to treat Irish/Italians in 1852 & current immigration rhetoric:
*deport poor/criminal immigrants
*ban them from voting for 21yrs
*protect US workers from Catholic labor
*no tax money to poor Catholic immigrants

3) In 1852 picture new Catholic immigrants to US carrying carry signs:

"We Are Bound to Carry Out the Pious Intentions of His Holiness the Pope"

"Americans Shant Rule Us!"

Allegiance to strange religion & refusal to adhere to US law and values. What's now said about Muslims.

I live in Sweden, and I can tell people in the US that what I get for my taxes is worth paying a bit more for. Subsidized daycare. Subsidized pre & after-school care. Universal healthcare. Paid parental leave. Free university (for now). Oh, and no insane spending on the military.

In Sweden, tax value also has long-term effects: more security; knowledge that illness won't bankrupt; knowledge that having/caring for a baby won't bankrupt or derail careers (usually the mother's); more gender balance in domestic labor. In short, treating citizens like humans.

Take subsidized pre-school in Sweden. From age of 1 until school, kids can go Mon-Fri, 35-40 hrs/week. Payment based on income, but MAX payment for higher-income earners around US $100 a month. For many it’s free. Then, once at school, similar after-school care for similar money.

A brief recap of how the Democrats and Lindsey Graham (a RINO / Left-wing sympathizer) tried to derail DACA and attempted to cause racial divides...

This is the @CBSNews version which spread quickly to the race-baiting @CNN team that had near mental breakdowns over this PRIVATE meeting in the Oval Office where it’s alleged that Trump stated he didn’t want a steady flow of immigrants from “shit hole” nations.

Now let’s just agree that Trump “may” have used that phrase... he said he didn’t, and others in the room didn’t hear it either... but I will concede he may have. So what?? It was a private meeting. But, there’s more...

The Obama administration reversed all previous policy in dealing with the outlaw thug regime that runs Iran. Instead of isolating it & choking it off, they gave it billions of dollars & free reign to spread terror all over the region.

So I'm not interested in hearing one goddamn thing Obama, Rhodes, Kerry or Samantha Power have to say about the #IranProtests.

We just discovered about a week and a half ago the policy decisions by this group of so called elite geniuses included sabotaging #ProjectCassandra & giving Hezbollah free reign to traffic in drugs and weapons to keep the #MullahMafia happy & help get the Iran Deal done.